RE: Updated AO-40 Keplerian elements from NORAD Data *EXPLAINED*

Hi Everybody,
By now, you have had the opportunity to read young Mr. Ernandes' email
regarding
new, high precision keps for AO-40. He really does a GREAT job, doesn't he?
That is NOT to say however, that he speaks the King's English. I have had
the pleasure
to listen to Ken speak at the last three or four AMSAT-NA Annual Meetings,
and I have
noticed that he as a tendency to...er..get "creative" with his vocabulary.
He uses a lot of "two dollar" words, as we say in the Southern U.S. Maybe
the rest of you guys hung on every word in his highly technical
presentations, but he typically lost me in the first few minutes.
I read the sentence "The tracking data has a good time and geometric
dispersion..." and I'm thinking, well here he goes AGAIN. That isn't a term
I've heard thrown around at a ham radio club meeting, or an AMSAT meeting,
for that matter. So I take it upon myself to email Mr. Ernandes and
ask him: 1>Is this REALLY an English expression? 2>What does it mean? Being
the good sport, I got a quick response. So, if you would, please substitute
this sentence for the one previously mentioned: "Because we tracked the
satellite from multiple points at different times (Kwajalein Isl. and Eglin
AFB) we got a LOT more accurate Keps." (My interpretation of Ken's response)
Was that so hard? Don't think so. Ken just needs a little help every now and
again. I will do my best to help Ken get his vocabulary down, at least, to a
Rocket Scientist level so us mere mortals have a CHANCE to understand him.
Offered in good fun.
Regards,
Steve Diggs, W4EPI
-----Original Message-----
From: Ken Ernandes [mailto:n2wwd@mindspring.com]
Sent: 12/20/2000 1:17 PM
To: AMSAT BBS
Subject: [amsat-bb] Updated AO-40 Keplerian elements from NORAD Data
NORAD / Space Command determined an accurate set of Keplerian elements for
AMSAT OSCAR 40 using tracking data from their radars at Eglin AFB, FL and
the Kwajalein atoll. The tracking data has good time and geometric
dispersion, yielding high quality Keplerian elements. Thus the following
Keps supersede previous estimates:
AO-40
1 26609U 00072B 00354.78150463 .00000000 00000-0 00000-0 0 124
2 26609 6.2479 237.0656 8128421 195.4843 97.8395 1.26834511 611
Satellite: AO-40
Catalog number: 26609
Epoch time: 00354.78150463
Element set: 12
Inclination: 6.2479 deg
RA of node: 237.0656 deg
Eccentricity: 0.8128421
Arg of perigee: 195.4843 deg
Mean anomaly: 97.8395 deg
Mean motion: 1.26834511 rev/day
Decay rate: 0.00000e+00 rev/day^2
Epoch rev: 61
Checksum: 275
73, Ken Ernandes, N2WWD
n2wwd@amsat.org
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